Pentecost+24/Proper 28A (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

​Regarding the coming of the kingdom of God or the day of the Lord, both Jesus and St. Paul share in common that it comes like a thief at night. Some might have a vast interest in finding out exactly when and where it will arrive but it’s obviously missing the point. It comes LIKE a thief at night, which does not mean God’s coming will literally happen at night. God comes every single moment. As long as we set aside ourselves including our thoughts, feelings, and sense, God is seen within and without us. 

What must be more troubling about this coming of the day of the Lord is whether we really “know it will come like a thief in the night” as St Paul writes to the Thessalonians. He even goes further, “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.” I find his words testing my Christian knowledge which makes me a bit anxious. I really think I need something written to me. I kind of want to teach him our modern saying, “If you didn’t document it, it didn’t happen!” 

As I understand it, however, what Paul is saying is that we’re supposed to know about this as if this wisdom is written in our hearts. This knowledge of God’s coming to us is experienced in ourselves. Metaphors used for those who do not know that the day of the Lord comes like a thief at night in today’s lesson are pointing us to one spiritual condition of being drunk or asleep. We constantly hear the message of Jesus and Paul, “let us keep awake and be sober.” 

This time, rather than talking about what it means for us to be awake and sober, what does it look like when we are asleep and drunk? The quickest way to see it is to revisit our personal experience of being asleep, drowsy, and drunk. Physiologically, if we consume too much alcohol, we get all of them! What about drowsy driving? I remember when I was getting so drowsy while driving, I sang loudly out of tune, slapped my face, or pinch my thigh to wake myself up. In this condition of being asleep, drowsy, or drunk, we do not see things as they are. Our ability to rationally assess things is severely deprived. Thus, Paul describes people who are drunk and asleep belong to the night or are in darkness. It doesn’t matter whether they’re actually asleep or drunk at night time but because they’re spiritually asleep and drunk, their world is like being dark at night.

What can wake up the asleep? What can sober up the drunk? What brightens this spiritual darkness? I can easily say, “God,” but this is a cop-out if I do not say how. True spirituality is not vague but quite concrete because it is always rooted in the reality where God shows God’s very hidden countenance. I do not know all the occasions that can wake up and sober up our sleepy and drunk hearts. But I know one life experience where we can be awake and sober. It’s when we face our mortality. As a hospital chaplain, I meet people who in their stage of life are somewhat forced to face their very human nature. Some find this hospital experience as their turning point of life while others call it the darkest time of their lives. For some, this reality of human mortality is something they’re familiar with. For others, this may feel like a thief coming at night. Something so essential which has been stored in the corner of our spiritual garage dusts off itself and finally reveals itself with the fundamental question about life, “What matters? Who matters?”

I want to call this Something as the primal or ultimate reality or God. When we encounter this Something, we come home to the source of our being. Without letting any thoughts to justify our reason for being or feelings to turn our focus on ourselves, we are simply one with God. This thoughtless and emotionless experience can sound terrifying but it may be because we are too addicted to ourselves, our thoughts and feelings. Instead, it fills us with God’s peace, wisdom, and compassion. This is why contemplation matters to us. It is the way of communing with and in God, which we also commune with others. 

We do not have to know exactly when the day of the Lord comes because we live in God’s eternal oneness with us. The day of the Lord is everyday and every moment. It is neither dark nor bright. In God, everything is one, and beyond one. Amen.